Page 96 of Wicked Deeds

There. Off to my right. Magic. Bad magic. Greasy, slimy, just-plain-wrongness. I made quick work of the lock with the picks and slipped out through the door. It went against all my instincts, but I headed toward the magic.

The corridor was dimly lit, half the lights dark. Fine by me. I pulled a ward around myself and made my way slowly down the rows of offices until I came to an intersection with anothercorridor. I glanced down to the left. An exit sign glowed faintly at the end of it.

I took half a step toward it before I stopped. As tempting as it was to get the hell out of there, to see if I could find help, I wasn’t going to leave Gwen here.

Help is coming, I told myself firmly and turned back in the other direction.

I made it about twenty feet before someone stepped out of a doorway behind me and clapped a hand over my mouth, dragging me back into the room.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I struggled,kicking and flailing and felt a flash of satisfaction when whoever had me grunted in pain before a loud“STOP STRUGGLING”rang in my head.

“Callum?”I went limp with relief.

“Who else?”His hands wrapped around my upper arms, keeping me upright.

“I thought you must be one of Jack’s thugs.”

“I am not. So stay still and I will let you go. Be quiet though. Can you stand?”

I nodded and after a few seconds he let me go, stepping back. I whirled, not believing it was really him. Callum, dressed in his hunting leathers, looking darkly deadly, was the best thing I’d seen all day. I grinned idiotically, resisting the urge to hug him. Until I saw he wasn’t alone. Usuriel stood a few feet behind him, almost blending into the darkness except for the pale gleam of his hair. He, like Callum, was dressed in black leather. His seemed to suck the light out of the air.

My smile died.

“What is he doing here?”I shot Callum a glare.

He scowled back.“Supposedly helping.”

“Why?”

“I am not entirely sure. Nevertheless, he is here and given what I can sense in this place, that is a good thing.”

“It’s rude to converse when others can’t hear you, wolf,” Usuriel drawled.

I ignored him but switched to normal conversation. “How did you find me?”

“Your bracelet. Cerridwen sensed you were in trouble and reached out to Cassandra. Damon had already called her. His team noticed the car you were in taking an unusual route. And then its tracker was cut off.”

“Are they here too?”

“Damon and his…forces are securing the perimeter. The Lady Cassandra and her colleagues are elsewhere in the building. Or they should be.”

“Gwen’s here,” I said. “We have to find her.”

“We have to stop whatever that magic is,” Usuriel said, tipping his head in the direction I’d been headed. “No one is safe if it continues.”

“I think Jack is trying to summon something.”

“Yes. And his protections are strong. But I do not feel the little tanai with him. She was that way,” Usuriel said, jerking his head left.

I stared at him. “You can sense her?”

“I remember what her magic feels like. I know the magic of everyone who has spent time in my realm.” He smirked, reminding meIhad spent time in his realm. “She used it not long ago.”

“Jack locked me into a VR again,” I said to Callum. “He might have done the same to her. If he has a way to make it work with a headset. She told me she worked out how to get out, but I don’t know if she can do it every time. Or if Jack’s watching her. Hewasn’t watching me. But he said he wanted her, not me. Wants to use her in his summoning.”

“I would imagine he’s quite focused on completing his working,” Usuriel said. “Which does not give us long to stop him. Depending on what ritual he has chosen.”

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